


Pandora's Game

by matsu1nino



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Blackouts, Blood and Violence, Fire, Gen, Ghosts, Haunted Houses, Horror, Mild Gore, Murder, Mutilation, Nightmares, Paranormal, Possession, Psychological Trauma, Self-Mutilation, Spirits, Suffering, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-26 16:42:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12561724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matsu1nino/pseuds/matsu1nino
Summary: Pandora’s Box: full of mystery and sly, a game to be played for tooth and for eye. Do what you can to reach the goal, give nothing back between each roll. Play till the end, move one after another. But await what’s to come and be sure you will suffer. The goal is your hope for what’s lost to be revived, until then hold on and pray you survive.





	1. Chapter 1

Jun made his way down the long and silent halls that seemed to stretch on forever. The lights above began to flicker, fighting a losing battle to remain alit. His steps quickened as he ran to find the end of the passageway, fleeing from the darkness closing in on him. He came to an eventual stop in the middle of the desolate hall. His breaths were short and audible in the maddening silence surrounding him. How long had he been running? Even as he stood motionless in the dark corridor his echoing footsteps continued to sound, growing louder as they raced to catch up with him. He could feel his heart beating rapidly against his chest. Sending fleeting glances back over his shoulder, Jun saw nothing but the same deserted halls that stretched out in front of him. He had gone nowhere.

Swallowing the nervous lump that had formed in his chest, he pressed on with a cautious pace. As he walked the wall he passed by began to melt. Jun jumped at the sight of the paint dripping down the wall to reveal the reflective glass hidden beneath. Every part of his brain was telling him to get out of there as fast as he could but he found his feet were cemented to the ground. Any effort he made to turn and run went to waste as his body moved like it was possessed closer to the mirror. His reflection was clouded even when he neared the glass. He could faintly see his distinct features behind the haze that seemed to only cover his face. The walls behind him were unchanged, as was the hand he raised to lightly brush his fingertips against the mirror’s surface. Standing as close as physically possible, Jun could start to distinguish the shadowy reflections of others. Four silhouettes, blurred and indistinct, formed alongside his own reflection. Soft moans sounded from several voices, muffled by the glass it had been spoken through. Their hands reached out towards him as though from behind the mirror itself. Lost in a trance created by the haze of his mind, Jun stretched out his arm to meet theirs. The moment he felt the cool glass beneath his hand, the mirror gave a tremble. Like a spider’s web over a watery expanse, the mirror cracked and splintered. There was a thud as a hand on the other side slammed against the surface of the glass, its bloodstained palm dragging down to leave a gory smear right across Jun’s reflection. Jun leapt back from the wall just as the hands of the other three silhouettes did the same. Blood oozed from the cracks in the mirror, scarlet trickling down the reflection and pooling on the floor beneath.

Jun wanted to run, to look away from the horrific image of the four shadow beings crawling through the mirror, but he could not. His body was refusing to listen to him, keeping him fastened to the ground where the blood was beginning to lap at his feet. The reflective beings had crawled out through the splintered mirror shards. They’re dark bodies were half hanging out of the frame as they stretched their greedy hands towards him. Jun gasped when he felt short fingers coil around the front of his shirt and drag him back towards the mirror with shocking strength that he was incapable of fighting against. With futile thrashes, he struggled to break free before the hands of the other beings seized his arms and body, hauling him up towards the broken mirror. The shards turned to liquid as his body passed through. Thick and suffocating, it burned away his clothes and skin. Jun tried to fight his way back to the surface of the glittering liquid swallowing him. The beings clawed at his body with relentless tugs until he was fully consumed by the mirror, his scream for help drowned out by the reflections when he reached the other side. Jun felt his body being ripped apart by four of them, their shadows engulfing him in a whirlwind that tore the flesh from his bones. Blood continued to seep down through the cracks, turning a shade lighter as a new life force joined the ranks. The fractures in the mirror began to mend as the newest blood stitched the glass shards back together.

The lights switched on again and the hallway was flooded with light. The mirrored wall began to crust with old paint, fading out of sight right as a bloodied hand slammed against the reflection, silver rings glistening scarlet while blood dribbled down over each long finger. It slowly fell away to leave the bloodstained handprint against the glass just when the mirror vanished beneath the returning wall.

\---

Jun awoke with a gasp, jolting his head off the side of the window where he had fallen asleep. His heart was hammering against his ribcage as he fought to catch his breath. The vivid imagery of his nightmare slowly began to fade into the haze of his subconscious.

“You okay?” He nearly flinched when he heard the voice sound from beside him, whipping around in his seat with such force that made his seatbelt snag across his chest. Sho was sitting beside him with a concerned look painted across his features. Jun’s gaze flickered around the van as he drew his thoughts back from his dream to remind himself of where he was. The other members were all around him, most either sleeping or entertaining themselves in their own way on the tiring drive they were presently on. The company had decided on a doing a location shoot for one of their show’s filmings, which was why they were all currently occupying the backseats of a van on their way to god knows where. Jun vaguely remembered starting to drift off but he wasn’t sure for how long exactly he had been asleep. Seeing Sho was still staring at him in expectation of an answer, Jun sent him a reassuring albeit weary smile.

“Just a dream” he murmured, hoping Sho would not ask for details. He rubbed his eyes in a feeble attempt to wake up but more so to remove any lingering residue from his unpleasant dreaming. He had not had a nightmare like that in a many number of years; he actually couldn’t remember the last time he had dreamt up something that vivid. All Jun could do was put it to the back of his mind and hope in time it would fade into something he could not recall even when he tried. Not that he could see himself wanting to try and recall such a dream ever again.

Sho still looked concerned but gave a shrug at Jun’s response, going back to the book he had been reading. Jun was glad it was Sho to have been the one sitting next to him and not Aiba. The taller guy would not have let Jun get a moment’s peace until he had unveiled every detail of the macabre dream he’d just experienced. Aiba would be sure to come up with countless analyses and theories over what it could have meant, if he wasn’t scared shitless after hearing about it that was. Said man was currently asleep behind them. His head was stretched back over the seat’s headrest with his mouth wide open in a soundless snore. Nino was next to—or rather on top of him, with his shorter legs stretched out the full-length of the seat over Aiba as he rested against the other side of the van.

Jun smiled half-heartedly at the sight of them before turning to face the window he had previously been sleeping against to stare out into the grey expanse.

“How long have we been driving?” he wondered aloud, giving his limbs a quick stretch in the confined space of the vehicle. His body was feeling rather stiff and he could venture to guess he had been asleep for longer than he’d first anticipated.

Sho looked up from his reading again and gave a thoughtful calculative look. “Nearly two hours” he answered. After a moment he turned to Ohno who was sleeping on the other side of him to sneak a glance at the older man’s watch. “Yep, we’re almost at two hours.”

“He have to be getting close by now” stated Jun, not seeing anything of particular interest outside. “Where did our managers say this place was again?”

“They didn’t” came Nino’s remark from the backseat. Sho and Jun turned in sync to see him now almost fully reclined over the three seats. Aiba still had not woken up even as the smaller guy pressed his feet into his friend’s stomach to find a more comfortable position. Instead he merely let out a soft grunt from his now closed mouth. “Only that we’re doing it for a special. Since when do we even do specials this time of year?”

“Maybe they’re trying something new” Sho offered weakly.

Nino scoffed. “Either that or Aibashi suggested it.”

“Wasn’t my doing” Aiba slurred from beneath him. The three of them stared in surprise at his unexpected response. His eyes were still shut but he was definitely awake.

“We thought you were asleep” Jun remarked.

Aiba opened his eyes to narrow slits, looking over the seat at those in the row in front of him. He gave a sleepy smile. “I’ve been awake all this time” he insisted.

“So you’re aware of what we’re planning for leader’s birthday then?” Nino tested, causing Aiba to jolt up into a seated position and effectively knock the former’s legs off his lap. Nino scrambled to keep from falling off the seat entirely following Aiba’s abrupt movement.

“Why? What are we planning?” he bombarded them with questions, almost shaking the car with his excitement. Nino pulled himself away from the seat’s edge and pushed Aiba back over onto his side.

“Nothing, yet” he groaned, “And nothing at all if all your shouting wakes him up.”

Aiba grinned. “But nothing ever wakes leader up.”

“He has a point” Jun added, looking over at where Ohno was still sleeping on the other side of the van. Even with all the commotion and the bumpy car ride as the vehicle moved off road, the man would not wake. To everyone else he appeared utterly dead to the world. 

The van containing the Arashi members eventually came to a stop when it pulled up in front of a dark mansion looming up in the middle of an empty clearing. As though his body had been set with an automated timer, their eldest member woke almost as soon as they had arrived. They unbuckled their seatbelts and were bustled rather forcefully out of the car by their managers. A thin drizzle of rain greeted them the moment they walked out under the open sky, a strong breeze blowing against them.

“Can we go anywhere without it raining?” Jun grumbled, rubbing his arms in an attempt to preserve his body heat from the chilling wind that seemed to cut right through them.

“Well we are Arashi” Aiba smiled brightly. Lightning flashed above them.

Nino smirked as he watched the sky darken again. “It’s sort of expected.”

The five of them stayed huddled close to the van under the umbrella Sho had sensibly thought to bring, watching as their managers debated with one another whilst looking to be having multiple arguments over the phone. After almost ten minutes of waiting in the increasingly heavy downpour, they eventually came back over to the members wearing grim expressions.

“The filming will have to be postponed” they informed the five men who were exchanging looks of disbelief. “Due to unforeseen weather conditions, the van transporting the film staff has been delayed. They should be here sometime tomorrow around midmorning but there’s not much we can do ‘til they get here. Until then we’ll be staying here.”

The members turned to look at their supposed accommodation for the night. The mansion was huge, dark and creaking. It looked older than all their ages combined and had an English style of architecture quite unlike anything any of them had ever seen before. The whole structure seemed slightly slanted. The roof was lopsided with tiling missing and gaping black holes scattered the ceiling. Almost all the outside paint was faded away to show off the unsound walls that were somehow holding the large building together.

“They’re not serious, right?” Jun questioned as he stared incredulously at the building looking like it was about to collapse at any moment.

Ohno was already making his way through the rain up to the moulded steps leading to the front door. Chewing on his lip, Aiba went after him at a much more precarious speed.

“You’re going to catch pneumonia going out in the rain like that” Sho called after them. Aiba stopped and ran back, seizing the older man’s arm to drag him up to the house alongside him in spite of Sho’s loud protests.

Jun lifted his jacket over his head when the umbrella’s cover vanished. Nino did the same, turning to the younger before shrugging and making his way up to the mansion with Jun right behind him. Inside was just as dark and damp as the exterior. The floorboards creaked with every step taken upon them, the rugs frayed and moulded along the ground. The wallpaper was peeling to reveal the cracked stone walls hidden beneath. Crooked picture frames lined the entrance way on either side, the beady eyes of the portraits seeming to follow their every movement as the five of them made their way through the hallway further into the house. They entered through into what resembled a dining room. The elongated table stretched the length of most of the room while a broken chandelier dangled above the centre. Cutlery and place settings were positioned around the table, rotten food on the plates left abandoned by whoever had last inhabited the mansion. They walked through the dining hall and into the kitchen left in disarray by the previous residents. Shards of broken plates scattered the floor while the cupboard doors had been thrown open. The refrigerator had no power and was emitting the smell of decay. There were no windows but a chill filled the air, the sounds of panic from the last guests seeming to echo faintly around the room.

“This place gives me the creeps” said Sho with a slight shiver as they moved back through the kitchen and dining room into the corridor before heading into the living area where a long spiralled staircase ascended to the level above.

“You’d think they were testing us with another haunted house segment” Jun commented. Every step up to the higher storeys squeaked as it threatened to break under the weight of the five boys.

“You don’t think they are do you?” Aiba asked fretfully but Ohno shook his head.

“Can’t imagine they would after all this time” he murmured, his hand running along the chipped railing of the staircase.

Nino pouted when something wet dropped through the crack in the ceiling above to land on his nose the moment they reached the top of the stairs. He rubbed it dry with the back of his hand. “It better not be.”

They managed to make it to the second level without incident and divided to the many doors they could see lining the corridor. Some led to empty studies, others to rusted bathrooms and dust filled storage closets, but most were bedrooms. Like the rest of the house they had been left an untidy mess. The beds were positioned at random around the rooms, with clothing, sheets and curtains strewn about carelessly over the floor and furniture.

Jun put the bag his manager had handed to him down on the bed of the room he’d selected. The idea of staying here for the night was truly displeasing but he knew there wasn’t much of a choice. He glanced around at the faded walls, the lightning outside illuminating the room with an eerie white glow every couple of minutes. From behind him he could hear the stifled sounds of what he could only assume were coming from the next room over, figuring the walls were very thin. What he heard was less an actual voice and more strange electronic noises that had become all too familiar with how often he heard them on a daily basis. Seeing nothing better to do and needing a way to get his mind off all the disturbing aspects of this old house they were expected to stay the night in, he rose from the bed and wandered out the door. He stood in the doorway of the room next to his, leaning lightly against the frame as he watched the man with the DS in his hands. Jun really couldn’t believe how relaxed he looked lying on his back on the bedspread, his fingers mashing at the buttons of his game console in the same way they would were they in the greenroom.

“You’d think you’d be a little more concerned with our situations instead of playing games” he remarked with his arms folded across his torso. Nino didn’t even look up, not that Jun had expected him to.

“It’s just for a day, Jun-kun. Nothing to be concerned about” he retorted. A small smirk formed on his lips as he continued, peeling his gaze momentarily away from his game to meet Jun’s eyes. “Unless you’re scared.”

Jun glowered at him. “I’m not scared” he snapped. Nino’s smirk did not fall even as he allowed himself to be re-immersed in his game. Jun clicked his teeth and with a roll of his eyes left the smaller guy to his virtual world.

He paced back down the hallway past his room and down the stairs. He didn’t want to go back to the room. It wasn’t because he was scared; he just didn’t want to go there. The room was not what he’d consider stable and he didn’t want to constantly be wondering when the ceiling would fall down on top of him. He’d be able to hear Nino’s gaming too, which would only end up annoying him, so Jun decided he might as well leave now to do a bit more exploring. The house was creepy but it was also old and sure to have at least a few interesting things lying around.

\---

Nightfall was fast approaching but the storm outside was unrelenting. The members sat around the spacious living room, the fireplace lit as they rested on the large couch and sofa chairs they had moved closer to the blaze they’d gotten going. Combined with the frequent flashes of lighting, the fire was creating an array of disturbing shadows along the walls and high-rise ceiling. The boys had been informed of the further delays caused by the sudden storm to their filming schedule. They had been told before leaving of their location shoot, and that they would arrive before the rest of the camera crew so to be briefed of what the filming would entail, but none of them had expected to end up with this much wasted time to kill. Their managers had gone out a few hours ago to purchase food for them, having seen the decaying supplies they had to work with in the house.

All things considered Jun knew things weren’t as bad as they could have been. There were no cameras in their faces, no fans and media to constantly have to hide their personal lives from, or gruelling schedules to adhere to. Putting the creepiness of the mansion aside, they had essentially been given an impromptu vacation with one another. There was warm food on its way and until then all that was required of them was to enjoy each other’s company.

“Hey guys!” Aiba’s shrill cry sounded as the man ran into the room with his hands being held at an awkward angle behind his back in an obvious attempt to hide what he was holding. “Guess what I found?”

Ohno was trying to stretch his head back far enough to see what was in Aiba’s hands while Sho was looking warily at their friend. “Tell me it’s not a mouse or something” he leant back in his chair a bit, not particularly wanting to see what sort of surprise Aiba had found and brought to them.

Aiba laughed. “No but I did hear some squeaking while I was down there” he said as he rushed forward, pulling the box from behind his back and slamming it down on the table between them all. “Tada!”

The members crowded around Aiba’s finding with a mix of curiosity and caution. The box was about half an arm’s length in size, made of an old wooden substance. Engraved on the top of the box were cursive letters.

“Pa-n-do-ra’s Ga-me” Sho read the words spelt out in English to the others. “Pandora’s Game.”

Jun turned to Aiba who was looking like he was barely able to contain his excitement. “Where did you find this?”

“It was in some secret chest I found under the stairs” he told them, his smile never wavering even if the looks on the faces around him did. “It was locked at first but I managed to get it open.”

“If it was locked, it was probably for a good reason” Sho tried to reason but was cut off when Aiba practically threw himself at his arm, staring up at the older man with wide begging eyes.

“We can still play it though right?” he asked. “Please Sho-chan?”

Sho looked hesitant and turned to the others for help in the decision he was expected to provide Aiba with.

Ohno shrugged. “It might be fun” he mumbled, leaning back in the plush sofa chair he was on. Nino hopped down off the armrest he had been sitting upon in favour of laying on the floor.

“We’re all bored anyway” he put in. “Besides it can’t be any worse than Aiba’s Sugoroku.” He let out a startled and exaggerated cry a moment later when Aiba whacked him upside the head.

“That was fun and you know it” he said with a pout that was quickly replaced by his usual grin when he realized there were no further objections to playing the game he had uncovered. He tore open the box and removed the board, tracing the colourful little tiles outlining the various pathways of the game. He let out an excited gasp. “Look! It’s in our colours!”

“What is this game exactly?” Sho questioned as he reached over Aiba to give the green dome in the centre of the board a curious tap.

Aiba turned over the back of the box and read the instructions aloud to everyone. “Pandora’s Box: full of mystery and sly, a game to be played for tooth and for eye. Do what you can to reach the goal, give nothing back between each roll. Play till the end, move one after another. But await what’s to come and be sure you will suffer. The goal is your hope for what’s lost to be revived, until then hold on and pray you survive.”

Silence fell upon the five of them as the words set in, forming a different meaning in each man’s head yet bringing them all to the same confusing conclusion.

“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea” said Jun when the silence had become almost too much to bear. Aiba turned to him with sad eyes. Seeing the disappointment at having gone to all the trouble of finding and unlocking the game sparkling in his gaze, Jun knew there was no backing out for any of them now. “Fine we can play.”

Aiba’s smile returned not a moment after the words had left his mouth, leading him over to where the purple was set out on the board. Nino gave a mischievous grin as Jun settled himself down on the ground beside the gamer.

“Don’t worry, Jun-pon” he teased, a playful glint in his eye. Jun turned sharply at the chosen nickname but Nino didn’t react to his dark glare. “If you get scared you can always forfeit.”

“I told you I’m not scared” Jun hissed. He was thankful when Aiba rattled through the box loudly as it distracted him from Nino’s snark comments and what damage he was likely to have caused in retaliation. He was wearing some of his larger rings today after all.

“Look at this!” Aiba exclaimed, very nearly pulling a groan from the others as they wondered what else their blithe friend could have possibly found. He held up one of the silver figurines that were sure to be used as character representations in the game. The little model looked like a man, with a cap on its head and abnormally large ears. “It’s Kaibutsu-kun!”

He handed it over to Ohno, who examined the figure of such odd resemblance. The facial features were not carved in enough detail to make out much familiarity but there was no denying the similarity it bore to the monster prince he had once played the part of. A serene smile graced Ohno’s lips as he looked at it. Sho leant over and seized it out of their leader’s hand, looking completely baffled at the figure.

“Maybe this game was inspired by Kaibutsu-kun.” He handed it back to Ohno with a rather defeated sounding sigh. That was when Aiba decided to thrust a second figure into his hand. His gaze flickered down to it, having to backtrack when he saw something that he was certain he must have mistook for something else. The little silver man was similar in form to the Kaibutsu-kun, except with normal sized ears. It was dressed in a jumpsuit and mask, and holding a kendama.

“Maybe it was inspired by Yatterman as well” Nino snickered, having caught sight of the figurine and Sho’s dazed expression as he stared down at it.

Jun turned to Sho who honestly was looking like he wanted to scream if only he had the energy to do so. He nudged the older man. “You know what they say. One’s an instance, two’s coincidence…”

“Three’s a pattern!” Aiba completed with a giggle as he held up a third figure. The humanoid was dressed in what was carved to look like feathers around its neck, with two small horns upon its head and a long demonic tail. Nino startled when he saw it, jolting forward and hitting his knee on the leg of the table in his rush to grab it. He yelped but still managed to snatch it away from Aiba’s hands. A contented grin made its way onto Sho’s face as he watched Nino staring down at the little silver devil in disbelief.

Jun was nervous to turn around when he felt Aiba tap him on the shoulder, reluctantly twisting around just enough to see the man dangle a fourth figure in front of his eyes. This one did not have the same level of striking familiarity as the others had. Dressed in a little cape, Jun was certain he could see small fangs protruding the carved smile of the model.

“Why is this one mine?” he couldn’t help but ask, feeling the need to know Aiba’s reasoning behind choosing a vampire statuette for him.

“First of all this one is mine” Aiba stated while holding up the figure dressed in an onesie of fur, complete with ears and a tail. Looking at it, Jun had to admit he was glad Aiba had chosen to take such a strange and adorable figurine for himself. “Second of all your solos almost always include vampire references. You even were one in our Love concert! Remember?”

Jun thought back to the video he had used at the start of his solo of that concert, recalling the vampiric being he had taken on to set the mood for the song. He hadn’t expected Aiba to remember and certainly hadn’t been counting on it coming up as a reason for the small silver bloodsucker in his hand that he was supposed to use in the game they were about to play.

“This is creepy!” Nino whined, pulling Jun out of his thoughts. The slightly older man was gripping the devil model in his fist while his legs were drawn to his chest, head on his arms as he rocked back and forth.

“Aiba-chan, you didn’t plant these in here did you?” Sho inquired.

“I didn’t” Aiba shook his head even though he was focused on where Ohno was balancing the mini Kaibutsu-kun on his finger. “I swear I didn’t.”

“Let’s just get this over with” Jun muttered and placed his figure down on the purple starting point. It hadn’t gone unnoticed to him that there were five uncannily familiar figurines and five starts in the game, each highlighted by the quintet of their image colours. It was something that chilled him to the bone to think about, knowing there was far too much for it to be a mere chance, but it was Aiba’s desire to play the game. They weren’t so cruel as to deny him that.

Forcing all dread to the backs of their mind, they began the game. They used janken to decide the order which coincidentally ended up as their age order. At least Jun hoped it was coincidental but it really wouldn’t surprise him at this point if it somehow linked in to all the other weirdness that had been occurring.

Everyone watched in silence as Ohno rolled the dice. It landed on five, with their leader moving his figurine accordingly. The tiles adjacent to the Kaibutsu-kun illuminated with a pale blue letter of an unknown language. It was gone before any of them could get the proper look at it. After moving the five spaces, the green dome in the middle lit up with words written in English. Before Sho could decipher it, the letters shifted into Japanese characters.

“The first die’s been cast and while you start out, let us begin with all the lights out.”

The members exchanged uncertain glances with one another, waiting a couple of moments to see if anything would happen. When nothing did, they turned to Aiba who merely shrugged.

“I don’t know how this game is supposed to work” he said in his own defence. He checked the back of the box again to see if there were any further instructions on what they were supposed to do, looking for any cards that might be picked or directions to follow. There was nothing but the same cryptic words they had read earlier.

Sho sighed and picked up the dice. “I guess we’ll just figure it out as we go.” He tossed it down, watching it roll and land a two. Once again the tiles were highlighted, this time in red, as Sho moved his figure the two spaces needed. The dome illuminated again as different words showed up.

“A fire begins with a simple spark. Are you afraid of what’s in the dark?”

“This really makes no sense” Nino remarked even as the characters faded away like they had the previous time. “Are random rhymes just going to keep popping up every one of us rolls?”

“Pointless game if they do” Jun agreed. Aiba seemed too busy tossing the die between his cupped hands to pay them much attention. He opened his palms and let the cube roll out onto the table, landing on a six. He jumped up in excitement at the large number he succeeded in getting. In spite of looking on questioningly, no one cared to point out to their fellow member that in a game with no apparent purpose there was no achievement in rolling a high number. The strange letters on the tiles shone green as Aiba excitedly moved his statuette around the board until he was at the sixth square.

“In the place where art is best composed, there you will find your comrade disposed.”

“You know you don’t have to read it aloud every time it’s someone’s turn” Jun told him.

Aiba turned to him, pointing at the letters that were already fading. “But look. Your comrade disposed! What does that mean?”

“Nothing” Nino shook his head at the man’s qualms. “It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a pointless old board game that has no meaning. No wonder this thing was locked up. Probably too boring for anyone to play.”

Aiba bit his quivering lip, obviously affected by both the message he’d received on his turn and Nino’s words criticizing the game he had found for them all to play. Sho patted his shoulder reassuringly and pushed the dice in Nino’s direction.

“It’s your turn” he said rather sternly. Nino rolled his eyes and took the dice in his hand, tossing it onto the table. A three showed. He unenthusiastically pushed his devil across the trio of spaces without so much as even glancing at the yellow light of the tile.

_When relations of old fall through, beware it is not your shadow chasing you._

Satisfied only that his turn was over for the first round, Nino leant back and left Jun to lean over and take the dice for himself. He scowled at the slightly older man for the awkward angle he was forced to assume due to the gamer’s indolence, but quickly forgot everything else as he felt the die rolling around on his palm. He shook it in his fist as few times before letting it fall onto the board. Another three showed up. The tile lit up purple but as Jun went to move his figurine, the colour melted into a glaring yellow.

_Two in a row, twins meet at the end. Say goodbye to another friend._

Aiba whimpered again but bit down on his tongue when Nino gave him a gentle slap against the leg to pacify him.

“Maybe it just means one of us is supposed to miss our turn or something” Sho put forward in the hope to calm Aiba’s obvious agitation.

“I don’t think that’s what it means” mused Ohno, silencing when Sho sent him a glare.

Jun gave the dice back to their leader. “Let’s just keep playing and get this game over with. The sooner it’s done the better.”

The night rolled on as the boys continued to play, each taking turns to roll the die with growing reluctance as more and more enigmatic statements appeared.

 

_Looks just the same but not as you know, the one you all see is buried below._

_***_

_Faucets untouched, porcelain red. There will emerge another deathbed._

_***_

_A friend no more for he has been taken. Spirit of death: rise and awaken._

_***_

_Under the moon marking the grave, there lie the weak, the strong and the brave._

“We should stop” Sho stammered. His complexion was a few shades paler than it had been at the beginning of the game and there were goosebumps along the skin of his arms even as he sat close to the fire. The five figurines were scattered around the board, some relatively close to the finish marked in the centre while others were at random points along the paths. None had made it to the end.

Aiba looked down nervously at the board. “But the game said—”

“It is getting late” Jun cut him off, turning to the grandfather clock standing erect at the back of the room. It felt like they had been playing for hours.

“If you really want to keep playing we can do so in the morning before the rest of the staff get here” Sho told Aiba. No one seemed to realize that their managers had not yet returned from their food expedition. Sho turned to the other three members, who grumbled their agreement.

The five of them climbed to their feet, each looking dishevelled from fatigue and remnant fright brought upon by the strange game they had been playing. They walked out of the living area and up the stairs. Saying good night to one another, they divided into their individual rooms for the night.

The game was lying out in the open on the table with the figurines still in place of where the boys had left off. Embers began to flicker as the fireplace burnt out. The green dome lit up again, small characters etching onto the glass.

_In preparation for the chase, lose all perception of time and space. Release what demons lurk therein and let the real game begin._


	2. Chapter 2

Jun sat on the bed with a book in his hand, the dim light from the bedside lamp the only light keeping the room from being in a state of total darkness. He had tried sleeping earlier but had found the moment he’d entered the room following the unfinished game with the other members, all drowsiness had immediately left his body. Any attempts he made to try and drift off were interrupted by vivid flashes of the same dream he’d had in the car ride there. Even now they haunted his mind, keeping his subconscious from falling to a peaceful slumber that his body so desperately needed. He wasn’t sure what tomorrow’s special filming would involve but Jun knew he wanted to be properly rested for whatever they would be thrown into.

It had been relieving to find the short novel tucked away in the bottom of his bag, knowing it would do him no harm to read a little to take his mind off things and hopefully make him tired enough to get some sleep. Even as he read, grateful for the functioning lamp beside him, Jun couldn’t help but wonder about the mansion they were in and the game they had been playing. It was only later that evening after everyone had already gone into their separate rooms that he realized they had not heard from their managers. He wondered if they had been caught out in the bad weather, or perhaps gotten lost on their way back. Jun hoped it was not the latter though with the isolation of the house he would not be overly surprised. It looked difficult enough trying to find a way to it in broad daylight, let alone the middle of the night. It shocked him to realize none of them had noticed their managers’ absence until now. The game had been tedious and without purpose but they had somehow passed the time while playing, becoming so engrossed in the turns that they had not even recognized how late it had gotten until they decided to call it quits.

Jun really didn’t know what to make of Pandora’s Game. It had certainly looked more interesting than the gameplay had delivered, especially with the familiar figurines. It was that little detail which had him most wary that everything was all a set-up. The strange and haunted-looking mansion coupled with the abrupt postponing of filming had been suspicious enough, then the managers timely disappearance followed by Aiba’s uncovering of the old board game designed with characters near identical to the ones all of them had played at some point during their professional careers. Jun found it had to believe it was anything but a set-up. He had even checked around his room for hidden cameras or recording devices. Though he found none, he remained on guard. After all it had been a couple of years since the members had last had to do something like this. Jun wouldn’t put it past the staff to try and arrange a scare for the five of them, edit the footage of them running around screaming together in a video and promoting it as some sort of Halloween special.

The lamp beside him started to flicker. Jun turned his attention from the page he was on to the light, leaning over to watch as the filaments inside the bulb fluctuated in brightness, eventually dying out completely and plunging the room into a black emptiness. Jun caught sight of a sliver of light that crawled in from under the door mere moments after the lamp had burnt out. It too was flickering in a desperate attempt to keep out the infringing darkness.

With narrowed eyes Jun climbed off the bed and edged his way over to the entrance of the room, the faded light creeping under the door illuminated part of the room. He moved slow, carefully reaching out to avoid colliding with any pieces of furniture that may have been in the way, and slipped outside in silence.

The hallway was empty. With the lights still flickering, Jun made his way down the corridor in search for the light switch. He listened out for any sounds from the other member’s rooms that might alert him to their presence on the other side of the thin walls but heard nothing. There was no teeth grinding from Aiba or night howls from Nino; none of the usual things that would keep him up anytime Jun shared a room with them. Even as he passed Sho’s room, expecting to hear the irritatingly loud snores produced by the older man, there was only quiet. Jun frowned at the silence that greeted him where noise usually reigned. He wondered if the other members were even inside their rooms at all. There was no lights coming from under any of the doors, a stillness in the air that felt like all life around him was non-existent. He walked further down the hall away from the doors leading to the other member’s seemingly vacant rooms.

He froze when he felt the chilling sensation of someone watching him. Turning slow, Jun nearly yelled out when he caught sight of the dark figure standing at the other end of the hall. The silhouette was unmoving, partially hidden by the edge of the wall that seemed to mould into the black outline of its body. The figure faded as the lights brightened but always reappeared with each flicker that turned the hall to a tunnel of shadows. Jun felt the air around him suddenly grow cold. The ceiling lights burnt out completely and he was left standing in the middle of the corridor in wait for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He willed his feet to move, never turning his back to the figure standing watching him. He practically threw himself at the wall marking the end of the hallway, his hand rummaging blindly for the light switch. When he finally found it he flicked it upwards. To his dismay the lights remained off. He played around with the switch for a bit while his alarmed gaze continuously moved to that of the still being standing on the opposite end of the hallway. Their whole body now stood visible and looked closer than they had a moment ago, Jun noted with a hint of fear creeping into the back of his mind. He knew it was probably his imagination playing tricks on him, fooling him into seeing something that wasn’t really there, but he was in no mood to take any chances. Spinning on his heel, he raced to the staircase and hurried down to the lower level. He didn’t stop or even slow until he had reached the entrance to the downstairs bathroom. He walked across the tiled floor over to the sink, hating the way his footsteps seemed to echo even as he moved as quietly as he could. He turned the tap on and after a slight delay felt the icy water gush over his hands, cupping some of the liquid in his palms and bringing it up to his face to splash himself with it. Taking a few seconds to collect himself, he stood grasping the edge of the sink in his hands. A startled cry escaped his lips before he could prevent it when he caught sight of a faceless figure standing right behind him in the mirror’s reflection. He whipped around, his heart pounding in his chest, but found he was alone. His eyes darted around the bathroom for any signs of another being. Upon seeing there was none, Jun scolded himself for letting his fear get the better of him. Now he was even seeing things! This place was really starting to drive him mad.

He left the bathroom, thanking whatever fortunes had ensured none of the others were around to hear him scream in such a way. He had an image to uphold. He wasn’t a coward; the other members knew that even if they did occasionally like to tease him whenever he showed signs of being afraid. This only made Jun want to prove he was not easily scared even more. Walking out into the spacious corridors connecting the downstairs rooms, Jun was certain he saw a flash of white translucent silk disappear behind the corner ahead of him. He stopped where he was as a hundred different thoughts swarmed his mind at once. There was one that sounded clearest though, one that spurred him to move past whatever fear he was feeling. With hands clenched tight and eyebrows furrowed determinedly, he went after where he had seen it vanish. Jun really wasn’t sure exactly what was going through his head as he hurried around the corner in pursuit of the unknown entity he was chasing. All he knew for sure was that he was done playing this game. Whether it was a set-up designed by the staff or the real thing, he would put an end to this.

He kept as quiet as he could while he crept through the darkness, staying alert for anything that might jump out at him. If it was a set-up he would expect no less. He was almost fully convinced the whole thing was the staff’s doing even if his confidence was starting to waver the longer he wandered through the house on his own. Every other test of courage they had done in the past had been completed with at least one other person. It made for better entertainment. That was the one thing Jun couldn’t understand. If this was a set-up, where were the others?

His thoughts were interrupted as he entered into the study area. The outside moonlight was pouring through the window frame, illuminating the room with a faint glow. The light streamed out over the carpet like white hands stretching out for anything within its reach. Jun searched the area for another’s presence. Seeing there was no one but himself and about to take a step forward into the room to continue his search, he flinched when something touched his shoulder from behind. He twisted around reflexively, effectively knocking the lithe arm away. Jun took one look at the perpetrator who had touched him and immediately his panic turned to annoyance.

“Aiba-kun!” he shouted, pacing forward to give the older guy a slap upside the head. “Don’t do that!”

Aiba flinched at the harsh contact. A small pang of guilt tugged at Jun’s chest when he realized he had hit a little harder than he had intended. It was only made worse when he saw the fright glistening in Aiba’s eyes.

Jun sighed softly, calming himself. “You know better than to sneak up on me from behind.”

“I didn’t know if it was really you or not” Aiba whimpered with a slight sob in his voice.

“Masaki, why were you following me?” Jun asked, finding it oddly concerning when Aiba shook his head vigorously in response.

“I wasn’t!” he protested. “I just came down to get a drink, and then the lights went out. I’ve been trying to find my way in the dark so when I saw you come in here I was really glad.”

Jun tipped his head questioningly. “Then it wasn’t you I followed in here?” Aiba shook his head again. Jun thought back to the figure in the hallway and the strange flicker of white he had seen upon leaving the bathroom. The silhouette he had seen at the end of the corridor did not resemble his lanky friend, nor did Aiba have even a speck of white on his current attire. Even if he did, Aiba had said he’d come downstairs before the blackout had occurred and had been lost in the dark thereafter.

Something else was bothering Jun.

“What did you mean when you said you didn’t know if it really was me or not?” he asked even as his voice fell to a hushed whisper. His attention was drawn to the billowing curtains drawn on either side of the window frame. The window was not open.

“I-I’ve been seeing strange things since the lights turned off” admitted Aiba with a whimper. “Things that are there one instant but then disappear the next.” Jun turned back to him, momentarily pulling his gaze away from the uncanny movement of the curtains to face his friend. Aiba shivered at the unexpected breeze that blew against them. It encircled them with an icy grip, making it impossible to determine where it had come from so suddenly.

“What’s happening?” Aiba cried out as the window blew open, turning the room’s interior to a whirlwind of whistling wind enclosing in on the pair. Jun opened his mouth to respond but the words died in his throat when he caught sight of the same dark figure standing on the outside of the window frame. The moonlight shone behind her, turning her body to a shadow that highlighted every black strand of hair falling over her face.

“Run” he hissed to Aiba, thrusting the taller man forward towards the entranceway of the study. Aiba didn’t question him as he allowed his flight instinct to take effect, fleeing from the room with Jun right behind. They raced back through the corridors, jolting at each turn that the ghostly girl materialized in to cut them off at every exit. Making it to the front entrance, Jun grappled with the handle of the door that would not come free from the frame. He did not remember any of them locking it when they had come in. Aiba yelped and pointed with a shaky finger at the figure as she just started to appear from around the corner. Cursing after one final wasted attempt to get the door open, Jun seized Aiba’s arm to run straight past the ethereal being back into the main areas of the house. The spirit seemed to pass right through the older man whose scream was cut short.

“We have to get to the others” startled Aiba, making a run for the staircase when they thought they had finally lost her. Jun tightened his grip on the man’s arm to pull him back. He looked at the younger with wide and panicked eyes. “What?”

“Don’t you smell that?” Jun turned to face the closed doors of the living room. The faintest aroma of fire lingered in the air.

“It’s just the fireplace” Aiba retorted, still in a state of dread as every shadow he saw seemed to form the same eerie apparition that had been following the two of them. He tried to tug his arm free from Jun’s grip to run up the stairs back to the rooms but Jun kept a firm hold on him.

Jun glared at him. “It should have burnt out by now.”

A look of realization washed over Aiba’s face as he caught on to what Jun was saying, turning to look at the room. They hurried over and tried to gain access to the living area only to find the doors were jammed. There was a stifled cry that sounded from within. A second voice joined it, followed by a muffled hammering against the wood of the door. The air was thick with the scent of smoke as a flickering orange light seeped out from under the locked doors.

“They’re stuck” Jun whispered in horror. He and Aiba pulled at the handles as hard as they could, ramming into the doors in a frantic effort to pry them open one way or another. When they would not budge, Aiba ran off into the next room.

Jun didn’t question his friend’s sudden departure as he kept up the struggle of opening the doors. He could hear the terrified pleas for help coming from the other room, could feel the thumping of desperate hands against the wood while he pulled with all his might until he felt his shoulder would be torn right out of its socket. The metal handle was growing hotter in his hand, almost to the point of scalding his palm. When Aiba returned not a minute later holding a bronze candlestick, Jun did not say anything as he stepped back and allowed him to insert the hooked end under the handle. Once convinced it was locked in place, Jun grabbed a hold of the other end of the sconce and together they heaved with all the strength they had. The rusted hinges snapped, the wooden doors swinging open as the two men that had been locked inside fell out on top of the pair in the hallway.

On his back following the messy collapse of bodies and entangled limbs, Jun peered up at the smaller guy lying across his chest. Ash dusted his black hair and stained the cheekbones of his thin face. Nino blinked down at him, a few cinders caught on the ends of his lashes. His ears and cheeks were tinged red though Jun was certain it was from the sweltering heat he could feel from the burning room the gamer had just been freed from. Jun dared to glance to the side where Aiba lay with Sho lying on him, the latter’s head buried behind his shoulder. It only took a couple of moments for Sho to realize where he had landed and more importantly that they were out of the room, before he scrambled up off Aiba with a hand outstretched in offering and a rushed apology. Aiba took the hand to be helped up but shook the expression of repentance off with a relieved smile, and instead turned to where Nino was still on top of Jun. It wasn’t long before Jun too was jostling the slightly older man off him and climbing to his feet himself. He could feel his own face growing hot but felt justified enough to blame it on the fire still blaring from the living area.

The four of them moved away from the room left ablaze. The whole living area was burning. The windows were shut, broken furniture scattering the ground below suggesting Nino and Sho had attempted to smash through the glass to escape. The curtains were disintegrated and the rug was nothing more than a trail of fire. Every wall was scorched as the flames lapped up higher towards the ceiling, enclosing the entire room. The only thing left intact amidst the fire was the board game resting untouched and uncompleted on the table.

“What happened?” Jun demanded, turning to Sho and Nino. The creepy figure that had been following Aiba and himself had become the last thing on his mind as they stared at their soot covered friends.

Nino looked at Sho and then back to the other two. “The bathroom upstairs is out of order so I came down here to use this one. I ran into Sho on my way back up.”

“I came down to inspect the fuse when the lights all switched off” Sho explained when Jun and Aiba sent him a questioning look. “Nino decided to come with me. We were checking the circuits by the fireplace when this wind suddenly came out of nowhere and breathed life into the fire again.”

“Next thing we knew the whole place was alight and the doors were locked” Nino finished the recount.

Aiba gave Sho a gentle pat on his back when the older man started coughing. Their clothes had been singed and they were certainly in shock, as well as weaker from the smoke they were sure to have inhaled, but other than that seemed to be relatively unharmed.

Nino looked to Jun with an almost scowl. “Why are you here?”

“Nice attitude to use on someone who just saved your life” Jun chided him with his arms crossed over his chest. He wondered how to explain why he had ventured from his room, not fully understanding himself. He glanced at Sho. “Guess you could say I came for the same reason he did.”

“Lucky you didn’t get caught inside with us then” Sho rasped.

“That’s cause we were being chased by Sadako” Aiba said bluntly and gave him another gentle hit to help drive out the last of the smoke from his lungs before looking up at the others. “So none of us were in our rooms then. Is that a coincidence or a conspiracy?”

While Sho tried to convince Aiba not to talk of the spirit he and Jun supposedly had chasing them, his eyes revealing how terrified he was by the thought, Jun and Nino looked around at the four of them. Both came to the same realization as they saw the vacant space. One of them was missing.

“Where’s Ohno?” Jun queried.

“Probably still in his room” Sho put forward the probability after a quick glance around to see their eldest member was indeed absent.

Aiba gave a weak smile. “We did say he could sleep through anything.”

“We should go check on him” Nino suggested. “With all that’s happened tonight, it wouldn’t be the worst idea to make sure he’s okay.”

The other three nodded in agreement and they hastily made their way to the staircase, winding their way up into the darkness. All of them were holding their breath as they walked through the upper-storey corridors that seemed much darker than the ones in the lower level had been. The intricate shadows on the walls were messing with their heads, encouraging the four men to stick closer to one another as they moved down the halls. They had only just reached the turn to the bedroom corridor when they heard the soft sound of piano keys being played from the door right at the end. Jun stiffened when he realized it was the door the dark figure had been standing in front of the last time he had been in this hallway.

The members stood listening to the sounds, each of them tense until they made out the distorted melody of Niji they had heard on a couple of occasions. The augmented jumble of notes being played was something they usually considered to be a butchery of a beautiful song, but now it just came as a relief to hear as they all knew there was only one person able to perform it that terribly. Without a second thought they ran to the door at the end of the hall, flinging it open and rushing into the open music room filled with moonlight from the high window. The curtains had been torn down from the above rod. A grand piano rested in the middle of the room being bathed in the outside light. There was no one sitting on the stool at the keys. The music seemed fainter now that they were actually in the room, almost like a whisper resonating around them. They could see a peculiar shadow being reflected against the wall from inside the opened lid. With slow steps they edged around the piano, hands connected and nervous breaths being held.

Aiba screamed and scrambled back away from the instrument, knocking into Jun who was standing completely paralysed as he stared down into the piano. The steel strings were all snapped and coiled around the mutilated body curled to fit inside the belly. Some of the wires were wrapped around his limbs, others piercing right through his body and keeping him fixed within the instrument. Blood glistened the inside of the piano like a gleaming coat of red paint.

“Satoshi!” Sho yelled, rushing forward while Nino stumbled back from the horror displayed in front of him. Jun saw his legs about to give way and hurried to catch him before he fell forward into the piano. The smaller guy seemed unaware of anything else around him even as Jun turned him away from the gory sight and hugged his trembling body close.  

“This can’t be happening” he whispered, more to himself than to any of the others.

Sho stood with his shaking hand brushing against the edge of the piano, unable to bring himself to reach any further or pull away from the horrific display laid out before him. Aiba was huddled in the corner, sobbing loudly even from beneath the hand covering his mouth.

The shadow of the piano began to creep up the wall, stretching out across the window to block out the light. Sho gave a shout and scampered across the room when he saw the black hands protrude from the darkness towards them.

“We have to get out of here!” he shrieked, already trying to pull Aiba to his feet and lug him to the door.

“What about Ohno?” Jun questioned bleakly before turning to see the piano being engulfed by the encroaching darkness. The shadows emerged from the wall completely and snaked over the floor after them, stitching together to become a sort of disfigured being. There was no time for anyone to answer.

Glancing back at the blacked out piano containing the remains of their fallen leader, Jun gave Nino a harder than necessary shove towards the exit that seemed so much further away than it had been minutes ago. None of them said a word as they rushed from the room, not looking back in fear of the uncertainty tailing them. They ran fast, through the corridors and skidding around corners, practically throwing themselves down the staircase in their haste to escape what they could no longer see. They rushed into the derelict dining room. Sho dragged two of the chairs up to barricade the doors behind them.

“What the hell is going on?” Jun growled under his breath as they crouched in the middle of the room by the table, watching where they had entered from with alert eyes. “Is this some sort of cruel joke?”

“I hope it is” whispered Nino. Jun turned to the shorter man in disbelief, noticing how much paler than usual he looked. Just when Sho opened his mouth to question what he was saying, Nino continued speaking. “It would be an even crueller reality.”

Sho closed his mouth again, whatever he had been about to say forgotten upon hearing Nino’s words.

Aiba sniffed loudly in the silence that had fallen. “The game” he whimpered. The other three turned sharply at his sudden statement. Nino grit his teeth and glared at his friend.

“Are you serious?” he snarled, his tongue laced with venom. “Ohno is dead and all you can think about it that stupid game?”

Jun grappled to hold Nino back as he sprang up from the ground in Aiba’s direction. Sho scurried over when Aiba recoiled away from the younger guy’s sudden bout of rage while Jun struggled to maintain a grip on Nino, surprised by the latter’s unexpected strength after how fragile he had appeared mere seconds ago.

“Don’t take this out on Masaki” Sho snapped at him, wrapping his arm around the still weeping Aiba as though to shield him from Nino’s anger.

“The game said this would happen” Aiba mumbled against Sho’s arm. His eyes were wide with dread. “A place where art’s best composed.” Having been confused by what he was going on about, a thoughtful look suddenly lit up on the elder’s face as he recalled the game’s fortune. “There you’ll find your comrade disposed” he said under his breath. He turned to the younger pair with a look of terror spreading across his features.

“He’s right” he told them. “The blackout, the fire, Satoshi’s demise…the game predicted it all.”

“How is that even possible?” Jun asked, sceptical but beginning to realize the things that were happening were far worse than a simple set-up arranged by the staff.

Sho looked lost for words. “I don’t know.”

“It said we needed to finish the game” Aiba interrupted as he reminded them of the game’s warning that had been written on the box. “Maybe if we do none of the other things it foretold will happen.”

“Look out!” Nino shouted abruptly, cutting their conversation short when he pointed behind Aiba to where his shadow was manifesting. It curled and coiled on the ground as it came to life. It rose from the floor, taking no heed to the four men below as it lifted higher into the air. It reached out with a clawed hand and slashed at the air. The ceiling chain snapped and sent the broken chandelier crashing onto the table.

The boys dived for cover, scrambling to their feet to dart to the nearest exit. Jun ran with Nino right behind him through the door closest to them. They heard the doors on the other side of the room slam shut a moment after, turning frantically as they came to the realization they had been separated from Sho and Aiba.

“What now?” Nino asked from his side, once again looking more scared than Jun thought he had ever seen him.

Jun stared down at the darkness seeping under the doors they were standing at. He quickly grabbed Nino’s arm and tugged him away from its reach, hurrying from the dining hall. “We’ll regroup later” said Jun as they broke out into a flat-out run.

“At least they’re together” Nino remarked as they kept pace with one another, tearing down the hallways into the next room, backtracking and slamming doors of areas they left soon after in an attempt to shake the darkness pursuing them.

Jun sincerely hoped his two friends would be alright on their own. He knew Nino was right in saying they had each other, which was assuredly better than being alone but he couldn’t shake the feeling of needing to go back; something which was made impossible with the shadowy manifestation right on their heels. When they ran to the closed entranceway to the study Jun and Aiba had been in earlier that night only to find the door was locked, Jun’s frustration and fear only increased. Neither he nor Aiba had sealed off the study when they had left the last time and Jun could not help but feel as though they were playing right into the hands of whoever or whatever was causing all of this. They were like mice trapped in a maze, running around madly for the amusement of those who had ensnared them. There was no hope of escape when they were left as hopeless as they were now.

Turning back when the doors refused to open both Jun and Nino had fully expected to come face-to-face with the frightful being they had believed to be chasing after them this whole time. Instead they were greeted by nothing more than a dark and empty hallway. They glanced around in question, silent as they searched the black span around them for any indication of where the figure was hiding.

A scream cut through the still air and chilled the blood in their veins. Jun exchanged a look with Nino, seeing the fearful but knowing glint that assured him he too had recognized it.

“That came from outside” Nino gulped, eyes scanning the ceiling above.

They dashed through the short stretch of halls that led straight to the front door. Nino grasped the handle and threw the door open, darting out into the darkness while Jun stood frozen in the entranceway. He stared with wide eyes at the wide-open door. It was impossible.

Nino skidded to a halt when he realized his companion was no longer by his side. He turned back to where Jun was standing. “What?”

“That was locked before” he stammered, recalling the vivid memory of desperately fighting with the jammed door handle to force it open. Nino rolled his eyes and reached back, snatching Jun roughly by the wrist to yank him out of the house.

“We don’t have time for this!” he said exasperatedly while he dragged the younger.

It was like a whole different world outside. The night sky seemed to stretch down from the atmosphere and encircle the entire house. Considering how far from the cities they were, Jun had been expecting to see stars dappling the great expanse but instead saw only a sheet of pure darkness. The undergrowth surrounding the mansion was nothing more than shadows blending into the night above, forming a sort of black dome around the house that only amplified the sensation of being trapped. The full moon was the only sanctuary in the otherwise dark sky. It illuminated the top of the mansion and turned the roof to a line of silver. No longer did the rooftop appear lopsided; now it seemed perfectly symmetrical, the exact midpoint marked by a strange silhouette. The two boys flinched seeing it, first thinking it was the figure that had been tailing them. A flash of lightning split the sky from the returning storm. The white light landed on the being hanging from the steel roof spike. His eyes were open, his expression blank as thick droplets of water ran down his round cheeks. He hung limp as his legs dangled over the edge of the rooftop.

Nino let out a choked gasp while Jun turned away with a wince, feeling the back of his eyes beginning to burn. He couldn’t bear to look at what had become of the man that had once been his idol of unrivalled admiration. Losing Ohno had been agonizing enough without the discovery of Sho’s dead body no more than an hour afterwards. As gruesome a state as their leader’s corpse had been in when they’d found it hidden away in the piano, Jun thought it was almost easier to stomach than the sight of Sho’s unmutilated body hanging like an ornament from the mansion’s ridge in display for all to see and fear.

“J” Nino’s trembling voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Jun could feel the tears stinging his glazed eyes even as he glanced down at the smaller guy, hating how terrified he appeared. It looked wrong. He missed the old Nino, the one who would smirk and tease him for being a cry-baby. Now Nino was the one with red-rimmed eyes, barely holding onto the tears threatening to fall. “Where’s Masaki?”

It took a moment for Jun to catch on to what Nino had even said, his gaze flicking up to Sho’s body before remembering he and Aiba had been together when the four of them has been split up. They had heard Sho’s distressed cry from outside but hadn’t heard even the faintest of sounds from their presently absent member. This thought alone caused a shiver down Jun’s spine. Aiba had one of the loudest screams any of them had ever heard. If they hadn’t heard anything, it couldn’t possibly be a good thing. Whether something had happened to Aiba or if he had been separated from Sho and was now alone, both Nino and Jun knew they had to find him and fast.

Something dark flickered across one of the upstairs windows. It did not go unnoticed by the two members standing outside who took one look at the mysterious moving shadow and raced back into the house. Somewhere in the back of Jun’s mind was questioning why he was willing going back inside the obvious danger lurking within those walls, but the answer was something he was already fully aware of. Aiba—a member, a friend—was all alone and in even greater peril than they were, and so it was without a second thought that he and Nino had sprinted back into the mansion to find him.

They reached the top of the stairs, standing beside one another as though waiting for the other to take the first step into the shadowy unknown. Since coming inside they had not seen or encountered any of the eerie beings that had earlier been pursuing them but that did not do anything to lessen the fear they felt now as they stared down the cold and dark hallway. There was an echoing drip that sounded from the third door on the right-hand side.

“I thought you said the bathroom up here wasn’t working” Jun hissed softly in Nino’s ear.

“It wasn’t” Nino hissed back.

The two of them moved with silent steps closer to the door, watching frozen as it swung open as though in expectation of their arrival. The bathroom light was on and flickering as the last of the energy was drained from the elongated bulbs. Aiba stood unmoving inside. His back was to them as he stared into the mirror, a cotton mask over his mouth and a knife in hand. The younger pair edged closer, caution in every step they took.

“What are you doing in here?” they whispered. His head rotated around with slow and unnatural movement that seemed to jolt every nerve in his neck. Eyes they had previously seen overflowing with tears were now glistening with a strange light that sent a shiver down both their spines. Aiba’s cheekbones lifted as though he was smiling beneath the mask.

“Aiba, put down the knife” Jun ordered him carefully but was ignored as Aiba fiddled with the blade in his hand, playing with the sharp tip like he was trying to balance it on the end of his forefinger.

“Knew too much” Aiba whispered from under the mask in a voice that was not his own. It was higher, like that of a child or a girl, and held a dangerously playful tone to it. “Had to silence them.” His hand reached up to his jaw, long fingers plucking at the cotton strings tied around his ears to remove it. The mask fell from his face. Jun and Nino gasped in horror at the bleeding upturned lines drawn deep into Aiba’s face, cutting his flesh open from the edges of his mouth.

Aiba twirled the knife in his hand to point it at the two of them. A flicker of pain and fear flashed in Aiba’s gaze as they fleetingly returned to the familiar eyes the younger members had known for many years, before they glazed over a second time. With a flick of his wrist, the knife was hurled up into the air to slice through the loose wiring hanging above their heads. The lights came swinging down a moment later, electrical sparks flying as the diffuser crashed into Aiba’s body and sent him hurtling back into the bath with a sickening crack. Nino and Jun recoiled from the dangerous ceiling collapse. Darkness flooded the room. The only light created was by the sparks still sizzling from the frayed wires dangling from the broken light cover. Water was gushing from the once inoperative taps, tainted red as the bath filled around Aiba’s limp body. The faint voice could still be heard ricocheted through the walls whispering, “Knew too much…had to silence.”

Nino sagged against Jun’s side. Jun immediately wrapped an arm around his shoulders, turning them both away from the unsightly corpse smiling back at them. They had both known Aiba for so many years, all the way back to when they first entered the agency as juniors, but Nino and Aiba had been best friends since before Jun had properly gotten to know either of them. He couldn’t begin to imagine how much Nino must have been hurting now.

“Why…” Nino’s voice was less than a whisper, every word a struggle to get out. “Why did he do that?”

Jun glanced briefly back at their dead friend. The ghastly slitted grin on his face was sickening to look at, marring all memory of the bright smiles once held on a face now mutilated. The unsettling voice that had sounded from Aiba’s torn apart mouth was impossible to forget.

“He was possessed” Jun answered, gently stroking Nino’s back to try and smooth out his hitched breathing. He didn’t want to believe it any more than Nino did but Jun could not deny what he had seen. They all knew how susceptible Aiba was to the supernatural, having a sixth sense and almost magnetic quality that seemed to draw the paranormal to him. It was not the first time he had been possessed.

A gust of wind whistled around the room as though confirming the presence of an otherworldly being. It had left Aiba’s body the moment it died, wandering in search for another living form to take as its own. Jun knew they had to get out of there. There was nothing they could do for Aiba now.

\---

Cold air filled the study where Jun and Nino were huddled together. They had escaped from the upstairs bathroom, rushing straight down into the nearest open room they spotted. Jun had been taken aback when Nino turned into him and laid his head against his chest with a soft sob. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen Nino cry in front of him when the cameras weren’t on. Pushing aside his shock, he let his hands come up to hold the guy who suddenly looked so much smaller. Jun wasn’t sure if he should break the silence by speaking but didn’t think anything he could say would make their situation any better. So he remained quiet and merely held Nino close, seeking comfort from him as much as Nino did from Jun.

“I’m next aren’t I” Nino quiet voice cut through the stillness like a knife. Jun looked down at him in question, seeing the dried tracks of the silent tears that had fallen.

“What do you mean?” Jun kept his voice soft.   
“It’s killing in order” Nino mumbled, “and I’m next.” Jun saw Nino’s lip tremble even as he bit down on it. Jun felt his throat tightening almost painfully at the sight of how terrified the man in his arms appeared.

“Kazu…”

Nino turned in the younger’s embrace and stared up at him. Emotions usually well hidden behind an impenetrable guise were now sparkling clear in the brown depths of his large eyes. “I don’t want to die, Jun.”

Jun was certain his heart stopped beating at hearing how vulnerable he sounded. Gone was the sharp-tongued brat he had known for a number of years, replaced by nothing more than a frightened child, that of which he felt utterly helpless to protect. It was all he could do to pull him in closer. He felt Nino tremble slightly against his chest, settling when Jun pressed his lips to the top of his head in a feeble gesture of reassurance.

“You’re not going to die” he tried to say, hating that his voice broke with the fear he was undeniably feeling. “We’re going to find a way out. I promise.”

“Aren’t you scared?”

They were words that very nearly made Jun laugh, or choke. Before today he was certain he would have rather died than admit to it. Excuses always worked in his favour, building up the belief that nothing scared him until he was convinced by his own lie. He searched Nino’s question for any indication of his old self; any underlying teasing or snark, but found not even the slightest trace. It was a genuine wondering laced with the fear they were both losing to.

“No” Jun answered honestly, running his hand through Nino’s hair. “I’m terrified.” Cameras or no cameras—not that he still believed in any way that this was all just a set-up to test their cowardice—he could not deny how frightened he was in that moment. Three members were already dead. They could still feel however many apparitions intent on killing them all throughout the massive house regardless of which room they entered. It was only a matter of time before they too were taken by the evil lurking inside these walls.

Jun knew he had lied to Nino before. He had no confidence that either of them were going to make it out of there alive. He had weakly hoped that this night would almost be over soon, and that when the sun rose and the darkness died away so too would the nightmare haunting them. It felt like hours had passed and somewhere in Jun’s mind was a small voice reminding him it was impossible for the night to continue for much longer, but when they had been outside that hope had been diminished upon seeing it was still pitch black. Like a never ending nightmare.

Aiba’s words from the dining hall rung through his mind. He’d told them to finish the game, to play until the end so that the horrific events of this evening might finally be brought to a close. Jun had little faith in that happening but he could not deny the game linked in with all else. It had predicted the deaths of his friends, as well as the darkness that had consumed the house and fire which had very nearly killed Sho and Nino. It had foretold Aiba’s possession too, stating a friend would be taken by a living spirit.

“We have to finish the game” he declared. Nino glanced up at him in disbelief but Jun didn’t blame him, shocked by his own words as well. He wasn’t convinced of his idea actually having any effect but could think of nothing else that might offer at least a chance for them to escape this slice of hell. “Remember what Aiba-kun said?”

Nino’s mouth was open, ready to say something cynical when pain flashed in his eyes at the recollection of his oldest friend. He turned away sharply, eyes shut in torment. Guilt pricked at Jun for causing such a painful memory but held the apology lingering on the tip of his tongue as he waited for Nino to respond.

With a small head shake, he looked back to Jun. “There’s only us two left” he reminded him.

Jun nodded meekly. It hadn’t escaped his notice that their numbers were down. He had no idea how that would work with the game they had started as five, or if it was even possible to finish the game now that only they were left.

Nino gave a soft and tired sounding sigh. He climbed to his feet, staggering slightly as he tried to find the strength to stay upright. He extended a hand to Jun. He took the hand courteously but rose to his feet mostly without the need for Nino’s assistance, worried he might end up pulling the latter back down to the floor.

“For Masaki” Nino murmured and Jun squeezed his hand slightly in return before whispering, “For Arashi.”

\---

The living room had become a bleak desolate environment, drained of all colour and life. The fire that had raged through the room had long since been put out. Every wall was scorched and the faint stench of smoke still hung in the cold air. It looked as though weeks or even years had passed since anyone had last stepped foot inside the room. The charred furniture was swathed with cobwebs and a fine coating of dust covered the area. Set upon the table rested Pandora’s game. The board and tiles were obscured by the dirt accumulated over the length of time simulated. Only two figurines remained, exactly where they had been left during the last time they played. The colours of the board were still equally spread between five but the blue, red and green had all been faded out.

Jun and Nino walked in, scanning the area for any unwelcome surprises lying in wait for them. Only after seeing the room was completely deserted did they push one of the heavier sofa chairs over to each door to block the entrances in the hope that they would remain undisturbed while they finished what they had come for.

As the two members moved closer to the game, the centre dome brightened a little under the dusting concealing the characters from sight. Jun brushed it clean to unveil the new words spelt out across the dark green glass.

_Start where you left to leave this pantomime, but do not forget it’s a race against time._

“It knew we would come back” said Nino as he looked over the remaining figures set upon the board. His gaze flicked up to Jun. “It’s your roll.”

With hesitation in every movement, Jun took the dice in hand and tossed it down onto the table, listening as it landed with a thunderous clatter in the tension of the room. When he reached to move the vampiric statuette the four spaces he had rolled, he visibly jolted when the silver figure slid across the board on its own. He glanced up at Nino who looked neither shocked nor affected by the living model. After everything else they had been through this night Jun supposed he really shouldn’t have been surprised by it either. The figurine landed four squares ahead of its last position and almost instantly the words on the dome began to shift into a new prophecy.

_The lies you have told of what fate lies ahead will return in the form of those already dead._

Jun swallowed as he stared at the statement written on the dome. Unlike the last time they had played the letters seemed reluctant to vanish, reading clear and haunting his thoughts the more he consider its implication. He dreaded what it meant. Those already dead…he could only guess it was referring to their lost members but the lies he had told was something he did not want to think about. The only lie that came to mind was the recent promise he had made to Nino about them both making it out alive.

“Lies?” Nino questioned the very thing raising his tension while he eyed Jun through his bangs. Jun forced a look of ignorance and passed the die over.

“No time to consider it” he dismissed his friend’s questioning gaze with rushed words and an almost pleading look in his eye. Nino frowned a little but took the dice to begin his turn, rolling an unhelpful two.

_In such a rush to end this race, let’s increase the casualty pace._

The two of them exchanged a worried glance at the verse that appeared. There was a loud bang that sounded from above them, the ceiling shaking with a shrill and resonating cry. Nino hastily pushed the dice into Jun’s hand and yelled for him to take his turn as fast as possible. Jun promptly nodded and threw the small cube onto the board, watching it roll until it stopped with the six facing upwards. He was torn between feeling relieved and terrified by the largest of numbers that showed up on his turn. It meant he was much closer to the end, certainly more than Nino was, and yet he couldn’t help the nerves that arose as he recalled the worst of fortunes had been given to those who rolled higher numbers or the same as the player before them. He was holding his breath as the next words appeared.

_This close to the goal, the more you should fear. Helpless you watch all you love disappear._

Before either of them had a chance to consider the most recent of warnings they had been given by the game, the fireplace burst into roaring blue flames. The fire snaked over the dark stone, stretching out towards the two members. Six greedy blazing hands lashed out in search for any victim within its reach. Familiar screams were heard as the flames coiled around Nino’s ankle and dragged him across the floor to the sheet of fire looming up from the hearth. Nino shrieked as the heat grew fiercer the closer he drew to the fireplace.

“Kazu!” Jun scrambled after him, gripping at his arms and trying in vain to tug him back from the cobalt flames tearing at his legs as they were both pulled over the ground. There was a pleading glint in Nino’s eyes as he begged for Jun not to let him go. Jun clutched his arms tighter while the intensity of the flames around them brought about a sheen of sweat that caused their grip to slip. The fire slithered between their bodies, catching on their clothing and burning fiercely until their hold on each other was broken. The moment their grip was severed, Nino was hauled back into the fire that engulfed his body, his agonizing cry interweaving with the three wailing voices.

Jun watched helplessly from where he lay on the floor as Nino vanished, his features melting under the blazing heat before he was consumed entirely. His eyes filled with ceaseless tears that ran down his sweltering cheeks from the intense burn of the fireplace. He gripped at his hair, nails clawing at his skull as he willed it not to be true. Nino was gone. All of them were gone. He needed it to be a dream, nothing more than another nightmare that would forever haunt his subconscious mind but be benign to his waking existence. He dared to glance back at the board now set with only one figure remaining; a lonely display and constant reminder of the fact that only he was left.

With a quivering breath, Jun dragged himself up off the floor and stumbled back over to the game. The words from the previous roll were still there, taunting him. It was with gritted teeth and a choked sob that Jun seized the die and threw it down again. He wanted nothing more than to run from this room, this mansion, and leave everything that had happened in accordance to this game far behind. But he couldn’t. He needed to end it. At the very least he needed to try.

A five was rolled but Jun barely registered this, too lost in the memory of what had just happened to Nino.

_Four meets one, dead and alive. Time to be brought back together as five._

Almost as soon as the characters had formed on the dome, Jun whipped back around to face the still lit fireplace and watched in great anticipation as it trembled. Even as he kept his eye fixed on the growing blaze he tossed the dice down again, figuring he was alone now and could therefore take as many rolls as he wanted until he finally landed on the end space. He was only nine away, he realized. Another five appeared.

_Impatient and desperate to reach the goal. Now you will pay with your life and your soul._

The fireplace gurgled while the walls began to shake, the ceiling feeling as though it would collapse at any moment. The large windows that had been locked burst open as a huge gust of wind surged inside with earthshattering force. It swept through the room, blowing away the broken furniture that had lay beneath the windowpane from Sho and Nino’s futile attempts to open it during the fire. Jun ducked as a three-legged chair came flying past his head. Something cold skimmed the back of his neck, brushing the strands of hair away to press against the skin. Jun shivered at the icy lips that ghosted over his neck and whipped around to face the nothing that was behind him. He glanced upwards, seeing his friend’s translucent form with the face of the girl he had witnessed before now hovering above his head. She drifted through the air with a breathy cackle that sounded too familiar for comfort. As she soared down to meet him face-to-face, Jun swore he saw Aiba’s face flash over the features of the spirit child. Still mangled with his mouth ripped open, Jun knew he had not imagined it. The ghost drew her hand to its cheek and traced the cuts with her pinkie to reopen them. Jun paled at the sight of the transparent blood dribbling down her face—Aiba’s face—even as she continued to laugh and smile.

Something wet trailed over the skin under his ear. Jun spun around and very nearly gagged to find Ohno standing behind him. His limbs were mangled and blood covered almost every part of his disfigured body that looked as though it had been cut up and then pieced back together in a rush.

A guttural moan sounded from the window as Sho crawled over the frame from outside, dripping wet and pale with a deep indentation running around his neck. His eyes were blank and clouded over as he stared right through the younger currently trying to avoid Ohno’s outstretched hand aimed at his throat.

Jun stumbled to get away from his maimed bandmates, his gaze landing on where the dice sat in wait for him on the table. He made a run for it but was stopped when something seized his ankle and pulled his feet out from under him. He twisted around in a mad attempt to get back up and to free himself from the blackened hand curled around his leg. Nino dragged himself from the fire, burnt and living, stinking of the blistered flesh that hung off his body in chunks.

“Let go!” Jun demanded in a panic, kicking out blindly even when he felt his foot connect with the hardened skin of Nino’s face. He gave an inhuman hiss but released his grip on Jun’s leg just enough for the other man to slip free and grab the die from the board.

Before he could roll it however, the other members swarmed him. He was dragged back from the table as multiple hands clawed at his body, tearing both his clothes and skin. Shadows masked the faces of his friends flocking him. Only Aiba remained untouched by the darkness, his face still flickering between his own and the face of the girl. The others lifted him up into the air and almost immediately the floor turned to a sea of fire beneath him. Their screams and howls as the flames burned at their mutilated corpses were drowned out by the sound of the roaring blaze. His body was dropped closer when Aiba released the hold he’d had on Jun’s leg, the fire eating away at his lower body as the apparition came to float in front of him. There was a demonic grin that appeared on the girl’s face that was in complete contrast to the look of near horror on Aiba’s when it showed as if he was watching what he was doing but was helpless to stop it.

His body seized up as the spirit of the girl possessing him forced her way out of him and into Jun. The younger screamed at the unwelcome intrusion. His body felt like it was being set alight from inside and freezing over all at once. He could feel his mind being lost in a haze as the apparition within him started to overwhelm his sense of control. He caught a glimpse of Aiba’s stiff and abandoned form still hanging above him. His eyes rolled into the back of his head before his body plummeted into the consuming flames below. Jun opened his mouth to cry out his friend’s name but the fire was already churning, raising higher with the feed it had just been given. With the last of his strength and own thinking working cohesively, Jun threw the dice still in his hand back to the table.

Those beneath him screeched as it landed and rolled with seemingly slowed indecisive movement. The fire surged up to engulf Jun’s entire body in a whirlwind of wind and flames that ripped his body to pieces. Blood mixed with the flames, the other members swallowed by the blazing torrent. The whole room started to tear apart even as the dice continued to roll across the table. It finally came to a stop with a four facing upwards.

At once the room and all that was in it retracted in a spiralling vortex of colour and darkness. Everything blurred together as the entire mansion was pulled into the retrogressive whirlpool that spun back the events of that evening.

\---

Jun blinked his eyes open, staring blankly at the leather seat ahead of him while a shard of moonlight shone through the windscreen of the car. His heart was racing and felt as if it would burst free from his chest at any moment, though he could not recall why it was beating so fast. He searched his thoughts for any possible reason that could be attributed to the sudden spike in his heartrate but his mind drew a blank. He could vaguely recall filming an on-location shoot for one of their shows but nothing in his head was of detail. Everything was blurred together, clouded by a sort of fog that refused to lift from his mind.

Moving his head from the seat he glanced around the car to see the other members sitting in peace all around him. He frowned slightly as he looked at them. Obscure flashes occurred in his mind as he moved his gaze over each member. Flickers of blood and other unnerving images was clouding his view of his friends regardless of who he observed. The images were gone in an instant but Jun could not shake the thought of them even as he looked back to their four tired albeit serene faces.

Sho stirred from next to him, stifling a yawn and fighting the urge to stretch in the confinement of the vehicle. His neck felt incredibly stiff and when he raised a hand to knead at the taut knots, he was surprised when he first felt a dented ring traced into the skin around his throat. He rubbed his fingers against it and felt it fade, concerned for a moment but brushing it off as his own imagination followed by an exhaustive day of travel and filming. He turned to the side, noticing Jun awake but seemingly lost in a world of his own.

“Everything okay?” he asked, his concern only increasing when Jun visibly flinched, looking much paler than usual. Sho couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen him so jumpy.

Jun stared at the red line he could see drawn into Sho’s neck, vanishing every couple of seconds but seeming almost permanent even if he was the only one it was visible to. He forced himself to look away, knowing Sho had noticed his uneasiness, and instead looked over the backseat to where Nino and Aiba were. He choked back a scream when he saw the bloody lines slashing Aiba’s mouth open in a cruel smile, and the scalded patches on Nino’s face. Like everything else they vanished the moment Jun blinked, returning them to their usual handsome selves but the image he had seen left Jun shivering. He twisted back around, catching but a glimpse of the bleeding body lying next to Sho. He winced as he knew it was Ohno but did not dare sneak a better look as he knew he would not be able to handle it.

He leant back against the headrest, his eyes closing as he allowed darkness to engulf the painful images flocking his mind. “Just a nightmare” he answered Sho, feeling the older man’s watchful gaze still on him.

It was all Jun could think to respond. The flashes he was getting were too obscure to have actually happened and were surely nothing more than a terrifying nightmare that would continue to haunt him for a while until his subconscious buried it beyond memory. Until then he would just have to put it out of his mind and act how he usually would around the others. He didn’t want to worry them. After all, it was just a dream.

\---  
A secluded old mansion lay hidden away at the top of a ridge far beyond the perimeters of any town or city. In the dusty living room set in the middle of the uninhibited residence was a board game. The panels were colourless and the tiles were blank, with no character figures on the board or inside the box sitting on the table. The green centre dome was shining ever so faintly in the dimly lit room as the white little letters etched onto the glass.

***

_One of you has reached the end of the board, for that you’ll receive Pandora’s reward. Turn back the clock to before you arrived and let those who’ve fallen now be revived. Have all that’s been witnessed: every death, every scream. Be remembered as nothing more than a dream. Leave this place far behind, live your lives just the same. Until someone else falls prey to the game._


End file.
